Each BIMA business around the globe ran its own technologies and processes. This made it difficult to access accurate, standardised data to support decision-making. The company wanted to replace its disparate finance and human resources (HR) applications with a single streamlined approach, working with a partner it could rely on in the long-term.
We realised that the business was unscalable beyond its current point. Coming to work was about firefighting rather than adding value.
Chief Financial Officer
A solid foundation with built-in workflows.
For BIMA, integration between finance and HR was critical. Workday represented strong commercial value, especially when compared with buying separate applications and having to maintain an interface between the two. BIMA also had confidence in the flexible and scalable Workday cloud model.
By adopting Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management, BIMA could simplify business operations and reduce costs across its global organisation. It would also have a reliable and trusted source of standard data for cross-company reporting and forecasting.
BIMA appreciated the workflows built into Workday, particularly those for HR, where it didn’t have formal processes in place. Gary Lumsdon, chief financial officer at BIMA, says, “We trusted the out-of-the-box Workday processes and could say to our teams around the world: this is what we’re going to do unless there’s a legal or regulatory reason to deviate.”
Smarter financial reporting.
The finance team can now focus on adding value by identifying insights, rather than spending time confirming the accuracy of data derived from multiple systems. BIMA is having conversations with its country managers about how to introduce even more effective reporting structures, which will lead to stronger global alignment across the business.
BIMA’s month-end, quarter-end, and budget cycles are now easier to manage and take less time. “Our head of finance is loving Workday,” says James Greenwood, head of IT operations. “There are fewer mundane jobs to do, such as consolidating numbers for reports, and our senior people can do so much more with the data. Having all our data in one place helps to address privacy and security issues as well, and we can cater for legal and regulatory nuances across different countries.”
Preparing for future growth.
BIMA is now seeing the benefits of integrating its finance and HR reporting. Around 70 percent of BIMA’s costs relate to people, so building a clear view of staff and the costs they represent to the business is key.
The company can now plan its organisational growth using accurate and trusted data. It’s now easy to see who’s working for the business, what jobs they do, the vacancies that need to be filled, and where people fit into the organisational structure. Gary says, “When you operate across seven or eight hours within time zones, in multiple languages and countries, transparency in HR data is worth a great deal.”
With Workday, we have the foundation to support our company’s growth over the next 10 to 20 years.
Head of IT Operations
Supporting remote working.
Using Workday, BIMA has accelerated its adoption of simpler, more efficient finance and HR processes. This has helped the company build on the remote and collaborative working practices introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More transparent finance and HR data will also support future decisions about the number of permanent workspaces needed by the business.
The company is dedicated to enabling a remote international workforce and, “having good underlying finance and HR capabilities supports that objective,” says James.